Fire in My Head / Flame in My Heart: Poems for the Pyrocene

In Fire in My Head / Flame in My Heart, Ellen Girardeau Kempler's fierce and fearlessly honest poems push us beyond denial to meet the dangers of our climate crisis head-on. Here, beach walks become elegies for a pristine beauty that once existed, though small moments of awe also show us why this world is still so worth saving. These poems invite us to emerge from our collective shell, and stretch to meet the emergencies of a planet in desperate need of loving action, at the same time honoring the abundance of what still leaves us "soaking in sated warmth, stomach & spirit full."

-James Crews, author of Unlocking the Heart and co-editor of Love Is for All of Us

Ellen Girardeau Kempler's chapbook, Fire in My Head / Flame in My Heart, is a powerful and timely climate lament. Her personal experience of droughts, wildfires, heat and floods fuels a grim yet tender understanding of the world's climate challenges, one rooted in knowing, witnessing and love. In her longing portrayal of what we have already lost and stand to lose, her poems call us to embrace the world's wonders while confronting reality and working toward a sustainable future.

-Linda N. Cabot, President and Founder, Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Programs